Week 1: Discussion - Exercise and Discussion Questions from Curley Textbook
Exercise 2.6
APRNs should not only recognize but also make it part of their practice to develop strategies to
reduce or eliminate health dis
...
Week 1: Discussion - Exercise and Discussion Questions from Curley Textbook
Exercise 2.6
APRNs should not only recognize but also make it part of their practice to develop strategies to
reduce or eliminate health disparities. Review information from Healthy People 2020 and the
CDC Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities websites.
What health disparities can you find that are relevant to your community?
How can you better advocate for minority groups who have poorer health outcomes?
What specific objectives in Healthy People 2020 can help this effort?
Professor and class,
Addressing and reducing community-wide health disparities is well within the practicing scope
of the advanced practiced nurse. Currently in my practice, I have seen a percentage of mothers,
specifically first-time mothers, refuse to attempt to breastfeed their child. Even with my
hospital’s baby-friendly designation, there has been only a slight increase in mother’s who have
exclusively breastfed while in the hospital. An objective of Healthy People 2020 is to increase
the proportion of infants who are ever breastfed (MICH-21.1) with a target goal of 81.9% of
infants born being breastfed. The question also stands, while these patient’s maintain exclusive
breastfeeding during their 2 to 3-day hospital stay after delivery, how does one maintain
compliance once the infant is discharged home? In an article by Odar Stough, Kalsa, Nabors,
Merianos and Peugh (2019), note that while the rates of breastfeeding initiation, in the hospital,
have reached the targets of Healthy People 2020, the rates of exclusive breastfeeding still
remain suboptimal per the Healthy People 2020 standard.
The focus placed on this topic by Healthy People 2020 is hopeful for change but as APNs we
must do something for our patient populations to bridge the gap and provide the missing
education that relates best to our patients. The patients that this deficit mainly affects are
predominantly of Hispanic or African American origin. There is also a conception, in low-income,
WIC recipient households, that there is greater financial aid with formula-fed infants versus
breastfed infants
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